World’s First Augmented Reality Newspaper Launches in Ireland

I read the Metro Herald daily and was left scratching my head at the concept, it has no future. I don't read my paper through the camera of my mobile phone, I've no interest of doing so and I've never seen an ad that has stirred my interest enough to the point where I'd take out my camera, switch on the phone, 'blip' it and then try figure out whats happening onscreen. It's an awkward solution to a problem that doesn't exist, if I need to learn more about a product i can visit their website, I can do it without a special app, I can remember it and I can do it whenever I please, not just when I have a 'blippable' ad in front of me.

It's VRML all over again, except less accessible.

12:14 pm September 22, 2011

Nick wrote:

I disagree... I enjoyed the experiance, you dont need to blipp an ad you have no interest in, however, if your interested in knowing more about an ad what a simple way to get more info, often with a fun experiance attached.

Also love it when brands have used blippar for really interactive fun experiances, like cadbury's! qwak smack game, takes up dull time on a tube!

12:27 pm September 22, 2011

Cormac wrote:

@Nick "'What a simple way to get more info", therein lies the problem, a far more simple way already exists and it's human-readable, it doesn't depend on me having the ad in front of me, I can enjoy the experience on a screen larger than 4.3", and I don't need a separate app to use it, it's called the URL.

2:09 pm September 22, 2011

Dave wrote:

I also disagree, Cormac. I think it's a nice fun element to the paper and the ads. I don't think you've to read the whole paper through your phone but as nick said, if something peaks your interest of course you'll want to know more. I like it and I'm sort of addicted to the GP daily poll.

3:07 pm September 22, 2011

James P wrote:

AR solves a number of problems. One being not overloading the reader with too much information - providing a lens to get more information on pieces that you're interested in so a paper doesn't have to be crowded with text and images.

Another point is that it is not being used just for advertisements. It has more functional uses such as seeing the answers to a crossword or watching a video on a story that's caught your interest.

@Cormac people are enjoying content on a 4.3" screen as seen by mobile internet usage, which is on an increase and is expected to overtake desktop internet usage in the next 2-3 years.

3:26 pm September 22, 2011

Cormac wrote:

Again, there is nothing either of you have listed that can't be accomplished using a tiny URL (no point repeating them, so see my posting below for the benefits of a url over Blippar). Blippar is a fad. I can appreciate the novelty of it, but once that novelty wears off it's got nothing to offer the user that can't be accomplished by easier, more accessible means.

It's like one of those Tea's Made machines that were popular one Christmas about 20 years ago. Like the Tea's Made, you'll find your Blippar icon, dusty and unused in a corner in a year's time.

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